Walking to the center of the room, Dalton looked at the system.
'Perfect. Now I can try the skills without any issue.'
System, how do I use them? In the game, we had to press the button, but what about now?
[Think about using the skill, Player, and chant its name. Try flowing mana through your body.]
[As you have never experienced mana, it's something you will feel like a warm liquid flowing through your body when you focus.]
'I see… focus, huh?'
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
After a long exhale, he went into focus...
Finally, his horns appeared.
In demons, horns only appear when they enter battle mode.
An entire minute passed. He felt nothing different—
but a slight tickle... a warm feeling inside his body.
It was faint and weak.
Was this… mana?
System, I feel it… the warm feeling… What now?
[Chant the skill you want to use.]
Opening his eyes, Dalton focused on the weak feeling he had inside him.
"BLACK MIST"
The words—
as soon as he spoke those words, he could feel the mana inside him reducing and flowing elsewhere.
Dark clouds began to appear around his body, revolving around him like rings,
only to suddenly expand outwards with a powerful gust of wind,
covering the entire room in a dark fog.
Yet Dalton was able to see everything inside of it.
'...Skill... I used a real skill... It's nothing like what I played in the game... A real-life experience.'
At that moment, he didn't care that he was in the body of the weakest character in the game—
but that he was able to use the SKILLS and mana.
[See? I told you, playe~... PLAYER?!?]
At that moment, it wasn't shock or bewilderment that the system saw on his face.
It was absolute madness of excitement.
"ThiS iS ... SO.... FuN"
A wide, crazy grin spread across his face.
'What was the next skill...?'
'Ah yes...'
"SHADOW STEP"
Dalton's gaze SNAPPED to the system.
HIS EYES WIDE, the adrenaline inside him was at its peak—
after all, he was inside a world of magic where he, a normal human—just a gamer—was able to use MANA.
"TeLL Me HOW TO USE it!"
> [...Think of merging as one with the shadows when you are in contact with any, and walk through them with greater speed.]
"I see..."
Roaming his gaze around the entire room,
which was still covered in the mist of the skill 'Black Mist.'
"Tell me, if as of right now everything is dark, no sunlight is here…"
"Does that mean I can walk through the entire space?"
> [...]
[Logically speaking... Player, it's possible.]
"HELL YEAH!!!!!"
"Shadow Step!"
As the skill activated, he dissolved into the mist itself...
All that was visible to the system now was a shadowy figure running wildly around the room.
At one moment, it was on the bed.
Then on the wall.
Then the window.
Then the air…
Almost everywhere.
And at the same moment, on the floor below his bedroom—
A group of maids were working, but the noise caused by his movement made it hard for them to focus.
One of them spoke up, clearly annoyed:
"Oh great, this is just what we needed—more headache to deal with from this good-for-nothing bastard."
The other maid quickly shushed her.
"Hey! Don't speak that out loud. Even if he's trash, he's still the master of this place.
You know how his attitude is. You'll be kicked out."
The first maid quieted down.
"Fine, fine... I guess that's still true... But at least send someone to tell him to stop."
They both looked at the third maid—
the new one with short brown hair and green eyes.
"Hey you, newbie. What was your name...? Ah yeah—Bella. You go and pass him the message to quiet down."
Bella looked up at them, slightly intimidated.
But she couldn't refuse, as she was new and they had been working here for a long time.
"...B-But..."
"No buts! GO. RIGHT. NOW." The first maid demanded.
"Y-Yes! Yes, I'll do it!"
Bella quickly ran out of the room like a frightened hamster.
Meanwhile, in Dalton's room...
It was as if he had already mastered the combination of those two moves… in mere minutes.
It wasn't the moves that were frightening.
They were just two C-rank skills.
At that moment, what was truly frightening was—
How fast 'HE ADAPTS.'
Even though the body he was in was of a Demon Lord...
The stats were no more than those of an ordinary person.
It was hard to even imagine...
Just who is this Player...?
Who was he in his real world before he possessed Dalton's body?
Not only had he adapted to mana,
Not only the skills,
Yet also how to manifest them in one try.
It should be impossible—for someone who hasn't even used magic before...
This was the very same person who was selfish…
Yet level-headed and calm…
Just a few moments ago...
Suddenly, appearing back at his initial spot, Dalton ended the skill Shadow Step.
The mist slowly disappeared as well.
"Hah… Hah… That was fun… Seems like it's not as hard as I thought..."
[PLAYER, ARE YOU FINE??]
'Why are you even asking that?' he asked, confused.
[But—but you... you were acting SO DIFFERENT!]
"Different, huh?"
"...Pfft... HAHAHAHA! You moron. I wasn't acting any different than how I am..."
[No! You were acting like a WHOLE different person! I saw it—THE LOOK IN YOUR EYES!]
"....SIGH.... Is that so?
Let me fill you in on a small thing about myself."
"It's not that I've changed—no.
You just haven't known me long enough."
"Because this is just how I've always been."
Meanwhile, our poor Bella made her way to Dalton's room.
Oh, poor thing... Little did she know her heart wouldn't be able to take what she would see.
She kept walking, whining to herself.
'Why are they all so mean? Always pushing me to do the scary stuff…'
'After this is done, I'm seriously going to complain about this to Sir Ethan.'
Back to Dalton's room—
Dalton looked at the system with a slightly crazy grin.
"Now, only one last skill remains to test..."
"Darkness Manifestation."
"Move, move—give me some space. I wanna try.
Shu shu."
He waved dismissively at the system, brushing him to the side.
"DARKNESS MANIFESTATION!"
Suddenly, another window popped up in front of his face:
[Due to low mana capacity, the duration of the skill has been reduced to 1minute.]
With that, once more an aura—
black with a small amount of glowing purple hue—
surrounded him, covering his body like a blanket.
The purple aura manifested as a core in the center of his chest.
The darkness gave his body a still-humanoid yet undefined form,
also covering his horns, face, and hair completely.
His eyes turned completely white…
His entire body engulfed in shadowy darkness.
He breathed heavily…
As if the strain of the powerful ability had taken over his body.
"Now let's try..."
"BLACK MIST!"
Suddenly, the spell activated—
but this time, it was far more potent.
Far more thick.
The flow of darkness created a heavy pressure around the room.
"INtrESting... Even if this body is nothing but average in this world...
When the skills are used right… it's still usable..."
Meanwhile—
Outside the bedroom door stood our brave, yet poor maid Bella,
preparing herself to open it.
She reached out her hand to the big doors and pushed them open—
Suddenly, a rush of dark fog that had been trapped inside the room rushed out.
"Aaackk… What's this…!"
She closed her eyes, startled by the sudden rush of darkness.
Hearing the sudden opening of the door, Dalton's gaze fell on who it was.
And in that moment—for him, it was just a maid.
But for Bella…
It was something terrifying.
Not power.
Not an intimidating aura.
But the appearance in front of her.
The dark mood, the mist, the faint purple glow—
He looked like something inhuman.
"A maid...?"
He said.
"A-A MONSTER!!!!! AAAACKKKKKKKKK!!!!!"
Bella screamed in a high-pitched voice, trying to flee—
but her legs gave out.
Who's even going to tell her she's overreacting?